Boom! Top recruit Jordan Burch staying home, picks South Carolina
One of the most anticipated college football announcements in the country was finally revealed Wednesday.
Hammond defensive end Jordan Burch committed to South Carolina during a nationally-televised announcement in front of friends, classmates and media at Fawcett Gymnasium. Burch picked USC over Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and LSU.
“I love the coaching staff,” Burch said. “I love the people here in town. I don’t think I could have made a better decision.”
It was the biggest football announcement the Palmetto State has seen since Jadeveon Clowney on Feb. 14, 2011 told the world he was headed to South Carolina. Burch originally planned to announce his choice in his hometown of Florence on Thursday but moved it up a day to be a part of ESPN’s signing day coverage.
Burch’s decision was one of the best-kept secrets, similar to when basketball star Zion Williamson surprised many in the Palmetto State with his choice of Duke in January 2018. The Hammond senior did few interviews the past two years and rarely posts on social media.
Burch did not sign a National Letter of Intent on Wednesday but it was already known that he wasn’t going to enroll at his school of choice in January. The early signing period wraps up Friday. If Burch doesn’t sign by then, he would have to wait until the traditional signing period, which starts Feb. 5, to sign his National Letter of Intent.
Burch and his mother didn’t answer questions from the media other than what was asked by ESPN.
Asked on the broadcast if he considered other schools, Burch said yes.
“At some point, I did,” Burch said, “while I was searching for schools with my mom, but I came to the conclusion that this is the place for me. They said it was my choice, whatever I feel. So we sat down and prayed about it and found out that this was the best decision for me.”
Burch was joined on stage by his mother Henri, grandparents, several friends and family as well as Hammond coaches and administration. A short video of Burch played before the announcement. When the video faded to black, Burch grabbed a black South Carolina hat that was in one of four boxes on the table. A load roar carried through the packed gymnasium.
Burch’s coaches and teammates spoke glowingly of the five-star prospect, who posed for photos for about 15 to 20 minutes after his announcement.
Hammond coach Erik Kimrey, a former USC quarterback, called Burch’s announcement a “great day for the University of South Carolina” and thought the way Burch and his family handled his recruitment was “refreshing.”
“Rather than posting things on social media and getting as much attention as possible, Jordan was focused on being a student-athlete and getting himself better on the field and in the classroom. He tried to stay away from all the distractions,” Kimrey said. “To me, I admired the way they handled it. Privacy was a big value of theirs. It was my job to respect that as much as possible.”
Kimrey said watching Burch’s recruitment was definitely an ‘education’ and wouldn’t say when he knew where his star athlete was going. While South Carolina was the closest of his five final schools, it didn’t have the recent success of Clemson, LSU, Georgia and Alabama.
“Jordan talked about how much he respects coach Muschamp,” Kimrey said. “I think proximity helps. He is very close with his family. But he feels like he wants to go into a program and help build something. I respect that.”
Burch’s Hammond basketball and football teammates, including USC defensive line commit Alex Huntley, were seated in chairs on the gym floor and exploded when Burch made his announcement. Huntley and Fabian Goodman, who will walk on at USC, stood up waving a white South Carolina towel.
Huntley said he texted Burch a long paragraph Tuesday night telling him that he would respect any decision he made.
“He kept everybody in the dark and that is a good thing,” Huntley said. “But I am so happy for him.
“The goal is to do what we did in high school just at the next level. If we can go in and put in the work, we should be able to do it at the next level. That is the goal.”
The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Burch entered the week as No. 5 by 247Sports Composite (factoring in all rankings), No. 5 overall by ESPN and No. 8 by Rivals. He is the highest ranked prospect from the state of South Carolina since Clowney was No. 1 in the country in the Class of 2011.
Burch will play in the Under Armour All-American game next month in Orlando. Many recruiting experts think he has a good shot of playing in the NFL.
247Sports’ Charles Power compares Burch to San Diego defensive end Joey Bosa, while 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong compares him to Jeffrey Simmons, who played at Mississippi State and is now with the Tennessee Titans.
“He is a guy who is a multiple and could have played all 22 positions at Hammond,” Wiltfong said. “He is a top-10 guy. And those guys, they have the whole bag. They have the flexibility, body control, power and stout at the point of attack. You hope he blossoms to the first-round pick we think he was. We think he is that good.”
Burch played his freshman season at Wilson in Florence before moving to Columbia and attending Hammond during the summer before his sophomore year. He was part of three SCISA Class 3A championship teams and helped bring unprecedented notoriety to the already-storied program.
“It wasn’t just us embracing Jordan. Jordan embraced Hammond,” Kimrey said. “A lot of kids were here today that looked up to him. And Jordan handled it all beautifully.”
This season, Burch led the team in sacks and accounted for more than 20 touchdowns this season. He had two touchdown runs in the championship game.
“USC is gonna get a hard worker,” Burch said. “A kid who doesn’t take plays off. I’m going to encourage my teammates. And I’ll play as hard as they need me to play, or better.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 2:33 PM with the headline "Boom! Top recruit Jordan Burch staying home, picks South Carolina."
